seemed to me to be shouting 'Aye, aye' in an absurd manner; and
I, equally absurdly, shouted 'No, no' with all my might, deliri-
ously fancying that we were in the English house of Parliament,
which I had visited once in my travels. Suddenly the statue
stepped on a weak plank; and the floor gave way at last. I had
sunk about twentyfive feet when my body seemed to plunge
away from me into the centre of the universe. I gave a terrible
gasp as it went, and then found myself dead, and in hell."
Here he paused for the first time. My hair had been trying to
stand on end for the last five minutes. I would have given any-
thing for courage to scream or throw myself out of the carriage.
But I only stammered an inquiry as to what the place he had men-
tioned was like.
"If I speak of it as a place at all," he replied, "I only do so in
order to make my narrative comprehensible, just as I express
myself to you phenomenally as a gentleman in hat, cloak, and
boots, although such things are no part of the category to which
I belong. Perhaps you do not follow me."
"Oh, perfectly," I said. "I am fond of reading metaphysics."
"Then I must leave you to reach the answer to your own
question by a series of abstractions, the residue of which you will
have an opportunity of verifying by experience. Suffice it to say
that I found society there composed chiefly of vulgar, hysterical,
brutish, weak, good-for-nothing people, all well intentioned,
who kept up the reputation of the place by making themselves
and each other as unhappy as they were capable of being. They
wearied and disgusted me; and I disconcerted them beyond meas-
ure. The Prince of Darkness is not a gentleman. His knowledge
and insight are very remarkable as far as they go; but they do not
go above the level of his crew. He kept up a certain pretence of
liking my company and conversation; and I was polite to him,
and did what I could to prevent him from feeling his inferiority.
Still I felt that the cordiality of our relations was a strain on us
both. One day a companion of his came to me, and, professing
that he respected me too much to connive at my being ill spoken
of behind my back, told me that the Prince had publicly said that
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